282 OUR SEARCH FOR A WILDERNESS. 



rope or monkey ladder with ornate woody frills decorating 

 the edges, hangs swaying high in air across the stream. 

 Several other giant vines ha\'e caught hold and have wormed 

 their way in serpentine folds along the first great swing. In 

 the spaces between these huge living cables, seeds and para- 

 sitic plants have taken root and grown, filling up the net- 

 work with their aerial bulbs and in turn furnishing rootholds 

 for an innumerable variety of flowers, ferns, orchids, mosses 

 and lichens. The mosses are long and fan-shaped like some 

 species of coral, and the lichens are red, pink, gray and 

 white. The whole forms, high over our heads, an enor- 

 mous hanging garden which no human ingenuity could 

 duplicate. 



Two hours after starting we reached the place called Two 

 Mouths and turned into the Little Aremu. In no place is 

 this stream more than twenty-five feet wide, with low, sloping 

 sandy or clay banks facing steep ones, first on the right, then 

 on the left side, according to the bend of the stream and the 

 force of the current. As we went along a splendid male 

 Crested Curassow * flew up and was shot, to be added to 

 our menu. Before we came in sight it was clucking softly. 



A splash around a bend, and sharp claw and toe marks 

 showed where a capybara {Hydroclioerus capyhara) had 

 just entered the water, and from here on we found such 

 tracks common on every sandy bank. 



We were amused at our steersman's occasional orders to 

 the crew. In places where the current was swift and poling 

 was very difficult he would shout in a most woful and despair- 

 ing voice " O Lord!", giving us quite a start. We eventually 

 found that he was intending this ejaculation for "Pole-hard!" 



Black-shelled moUusks were common on sul^merged logs, 

 and on the banks above the water line were scores of curious 

 spiders and insects, while dragon-flies of a half dozen or more 

 species darted swiftly about. Throughout the morning we 



